The Wanderer (Tor Fantasy) [Mass Market Paperback]

Cherry Wilder (Author), Katya Reimann (Author)

Book Description

Series: Tor Fantasy | Publication Date: November 29, 2005

Cherry Wilder's The Rulers of Hylor series established a detailed and intricate fantasy world. Katya Riemann completed and polished this last Hylor novel, a tale of warring kingdoms, treacherous advisers and generational conflicts, set in a world of rich physical beauty, vibrant life and a realism leavened with occasional and startling magic.
Gael Maddoc, the child of struggling peasants, leaps at the chance when she is offered training as a kedran, a mounted soldier. She wins glory bringing her charges home safe across a huge desert, seeking aid from the Shee. But the Shee--the dwindling Fair Folk--then recruit her for their own purposes. Her nascent magical talents and her resourcefulness show her to be the Wanderer, a legendary figure for whom they've been waiting

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Full of cosmic drama and grand enchantments, the late Wilder's last Hylor novel, completed by Reimann (Wind from a Foreign Sky), addresses the same morally and philosophically complex issues of gender, society and self-learning that lifted earlier volumes in the Rulers of Hylor series (A Princess of the Chameln, etc.) above the common run of fantasies. The ambitious daughter of a peasant family struggling in a land of poverty, Gael Maddoc eagerly trains as a mounted soldier when offered the opportunity. She wins the respect of her rank after guiding betrayed charges across an enormous desert. Receiving council from the Shee (aka the Fair Folk), Gael is soon submerged in ancient intrigue. The plot gathers momentum when it becomes clear that she's the legendary, long-awaited Wanderer, "the chosen servant of the light folk." The authors' sparing use of magic helps highlight a naturalistic world of warring kingdoms, treachery and political conflict. Fans of both pastoral and hard-edged fantasy should be well satisfied.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Gael Maddoc, the daughter of very poor peasants, is offered the chance to become a soldier. After making a reputation by bringing her company safely through a large and dangerous desert, she is recruited by the last of the Shee to be their champion. For Gael is the Wanderer, the paladin of legend for whom the Shee have been waiting. To fully enjoy this good, competently written story--Wilder's final novel of the lands of Hylor--familiarity with Wilder's trilogy The Rulers of Hylor (A Princess of the Chameln [1984], Yorath the Wolf [1984], The Summer's King [1986]) helps but isn't necessary. Wilder died while writing The Wanderer, but Reimann has competently finished it. It ends not with a cliff-hanger but at a stopping point, thereby allowing for further stories set in Hylor by other hands--a prospect about which, provided those future writers keep the continuity within the parameters of classic fantasy, no fantasy reader is likely to complain. Frieda Murray
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Tor Fantasy (November 29, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812567811
• ISBN-13: 978-0812567816
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.2 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,773,788 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A Faint Echo, December 29, 2007

By 

E. Dennison (Tulsa, OK United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wanderer (Rulers of Hylor) (Hardcover)

Readers of Cherry Wilder's "Rulers of Hylor" will return to a world familiar to them from the pages of _A Princess of the Chameln_, _Yorath the Wolf_, and _The Summer King_, but Reimann cannot match the graceful prose style and light-handed touch that made Wilder a master fantasist.

This reader can easily tell where Wilder's plot-notes end and Reimann's authorship begins. For fantasy fans not already familiar with Wilder's tales may find this a satisfying read, but those who have appreciated the subtlety with which Wilder weaves magic into her stories will find _The Wanderer_ to be blunt and heavy-handed by comparison.

For those eager for a bit more of Wilder's Hylor, and curious to know "what happened after", this book does carry the overall story further and will not disappoint. For those who miss Wilder's elegant prose and slowly unfolded plots, this book cannot supply the lack.

4.0 out of 5 stars The Wanderer, April 8, 2010

By 

D. Phillips (Maryland) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wanderer (Tor Fantasy) (Mass Market Paperback)

I read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy, and am always looking for something interesting. I picked this book up at the library recently, without knowing anything about Cherry Wilder. Now I am hooked. This book is very good, and balances the use of magic and physical combat in an interesting way. The main character, Gael, uses her head to overcome adversaries far more often than not. But she is a skilled soldier who will plunge into a fight when necessary.

I had a feeling this book was part of a larger set, and that turned out to be true as there is a whole Hylor series. The author(s)' depiction of Hylor and its competing kingdoms is detailed and very interesting. The theme is typical fantasy fare, featuring key interactions with a departing elf-like people (why are they never arriving?) but I always forgive that kind of thing and keep reading.

The best part of this book, in my opinion, is the depiction of the kedran, a whole class of female cavalry that serves in multiple kingdoms, and how Gael obtains respect due to her leadership and soldier skills.

The book is a fast, good read and I plan to read the other Hylor books.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars fabulous fantasy, May 14, 2004

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Wanderer (Rulers of Hylor) (Hardcover)

Growing up in an impoverished peasant croft family in the Chyrian lands of Mel?Nir, Gael Maddoc has no hope to escape from farm life. She detests toiling the land, finding it boring and costly especially when she looks at her parents and two older siblings. She sees nothing positive in her future though she dreams of adventure.

That changes when Gael turns seventeen as the priest Druda Strawn sees something in her especially after she gave to him last year the ancient map parchment she found. He arranges for her to train with the Summer Riders as a true battlemaid while her family?s back taxes are paid. Gael leaps at the opportunity to train as a mounted soldier and easily adapts to the military regiment with her background helping her with a stoic acceptance.

The Shee Fair Folk also notice something special about Gael as they believe she is the legend, the Wanderer, "the chosen servant of the light folk". They begin guiding her for she is the hope to save the realm.

Though the great Cherry Wilder died two years ago, readers will agree that THE WANDERER is wonderful homage to her terrific fantasy series, ?The Rulers of Hylor?. Fans will not be able to delineate between Ms. Wilder and Katya Reimann who apparently completed this tale. The story line is fast-paced from the moment Gael becomes a soldier in training and never slows down as The Wanderer tries to make things right. Without any gimmicks, readers obtain a realm scarred by war and betrayal with a pinch of magic as a flavoring. This is a fitting tribute.

Harriet Klausner